Joseph Brings His Sons
Dying, Jacob recalls our Father Almighty at Luz and claims Joseph's two Egyptian sons as his own. He crosses his hands to put the younger, Ephraim, ahead of the firstborn, and refuses to be corrected. The pattern of his own life gets deliberately repeated once more.
48 1After this, Joseph was told, "Look, your father is sick." So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2Jacob was told, "Look, your son Joseph has come to you." Israel mustered his strength and sat up on the bed. 3Jacob told Joseph, "El Shaddai—our Father Almighty—appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4He said to me, 'I will make you fruitful, multiply you, and make you into a group of peoples; I will give this land to your offspring after you as an everlasting possession.' 5Now, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, like Reuben and Simeon. 6But children you father after them are yours; they'll be called under their brothers' names in their inheritance. 7As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan, on the way, still some distance from Ephrath; I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).
8When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, "Who are these?"
9Joseph said to his father, "These are my sons, whom our Father gave me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, so I may bless them."
10Israel's eyes were dim with age—he couldn't see well. So Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed and embraced them. 11Israel told Joseph, "I never expected to see your face—now our Father has even let me see your offspring." 12Then Joseph took them from between his father's knees and bowed with his face to the ground. a a v12 Placing children between the knees was an ancient gesture of formal adoption. 13Joseph took both—Ephraim in his right hand, toward Israel's left, Manasseh in his left, toward Israel's right—and brought them near him. 14Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head—the younger—then his left hand on Manasseh's head, crossing his hands—for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15Then he blessed Joseph and said, "Our Father, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked—our Father who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, b b v15 Jacob names our Father as his shepherd — the first time in scripture our Father is given this title. The Shepherd theme reaches forward to Psalm 23, to the Shepherd of Israel in Isaiah and Ezekiel, and finds its fullness in Jesus, who calls himself the Good Shepherd. 16the Messenger who has redeemed me from all evil—bless the boys. May my name live on in them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." c c v16 The messenger who redeems Jacob is our Father himself — the one who has appeared, wrestled, and walked with him through his whole life.
17Joseph saw his father's right hand on Ephraim's head; it upset him, so he grasped his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18Joseph said to his father, "No, my father, for this is the firstborn—put your right hand on his head."
19But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, he too will be great. Yet his younger brother will be greater than him, and his descendants will become many nations." 20That day he blessed them, saying, "Israel will bless through you, saying, 'May our Father make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.'" And he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21Israel said to Joseph, "Look, I am about to die, but our Father will be with you and bring you back to your fathers' land. 22And to you, rather than to your brothers, I have given one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow." d d v22 This "mountain slope" likely refers to the region of Shechem, which would become central territory for the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
